The singer Emilio Frías, director of the group El Niño y la Verdad, premiered this friday on YouTube your theme Change, which has exceeded 11,000 views in less than twelve hours. In a video On Facebook, the singer presented it as “a necessary song” for the times Cuba is living.
the grouping was censored last Saturday while performing a concert at the Casa de la Música de Galiano, in Centro Habana. The local security officers turned off the audio equipment despite public opposition and “watered down” the musician’s farewell before his tour in Mexico, where he is now.
This episode was repudiated by several public figures such as Willy Chirino, Leoni Torres and Yotuel Romero, in addition to one of the regime’s spokesmen, the singer Israel Rojas, a member of the Buena Fe duo.
“It’s not a political song, it’s a social song,” insisted Frías, in the presentation of Changewhich “keeps the sentiment of the entire Island”.
“A backpack full of dreams and a present without a past”, begins by saying Frías, before starting the chords of Changealluding to the massive exodus suffered by the Island, “and in pain, the determination to help the one you have left behind”.
“I want to breathe freedom and be who I am, to show that I can give more than I give,” the lyrics openly expose
“I want to breathe freedom and be who I am, to show that I can give more than I give,” the lyrics openly expose, adding that “to move forward I have to make some changes.” The chorus says that “my life needs a change now”, to the rhythm of salsa, while criticizing those who call their land “fertile” without working for its prosperity, when “in honor of the truth, nothing grows”.
“My heart screams at me that I must embark on a journey without looking back,” Frías sings again, referring to the exile “by sea” or “crossing the river” that Cubans must suffer, leaving behind “his old lady,” who puts a candle to the Virgen de la Caridad for “what Cuba needs”.
Change has had a resounding success since its premiere, manifest in several hundred comments to the group on YouTube.
In other direct transmission, from the Seadust hotel in Cancun, Mexico, where the group will offer several concerts this month, Frías thanked the reception of the song and reflected on its impact. “Since I was in Cuba,” said the artist, “people stopped me in the street and told me: ‘It’s change, what we need is change.'”
He stated that he was pleased by the identification of the public on the Island with his themes, since he works for Cubans, “who need him so much.”
Frías clarified that he will return to Havana in a few days, a city “where my family, my friends and a crazy people are waiting for me because I keep singing to them.”
Faced with the rumors that have begun to circulate about his possible exile, Frías clarified that he will return to Havana in a few days, a city “where my family, my friends and a crazy people are waiting for me because I keep singing to them.” “I’m not going anywhere,” he settled, “because I don’t need it either.”
Upon his return, he promised his followers to find a “very cool and very neutral” place, “where no one stops us”, to release Changewhich he called “the most viral song of my career”.
the launch of Change por El Niño y la Verdad is added to the list of songs that claim, more or less explicitly, freedom and justice for Cuba. Since Homeland and Lifewhich became the anthem of the 11J protests, several artists have expressed with their music the need for a radical transformation on the Island.
The regime has tried to respond to these issues, which tend to be rooted in popular taste, with the censorship or exile of their authors, or by issuing “counterattack” songs, which do not achieve the success of the “music of the enemy.”
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